Untitled (Head of a Madman)

This “madman’s head” by Jean-Michel Basquiat, with its intense gaze, bears the artist’s characteristic frenetic brushwork. The skeletal figure, seemingly stripped bare and emaciated, oscillates between menace and empathy, remaining inscrutable. Some see it as a raw and allegorical self-portrait in which the artist confronts his demons, caught between anxiety and rebellion. Rich in references to art history and popular culture, this work embodies Basquiat—the dazzling comet who electrified the art world of the 1980s.